What went wrong for Stewart Hass Racing at Martinsville?

Stewart Hass Racing had the fastest cars at Martinsville, but the final race result didn’t reflect it.

What went wrong for Stewart Hass Racing at Martinsville?

Stewart Hass Racing had the fastest cars at Martinsville

When all four drivers of the Stewart Hass Racing team crossed the finish line in Martinsville this Sunday, it marked the 23rd concoctive cup race they finished without a win. The Ford giants are struggling to find their footing so far this season, and other than soon-to-be-retiring veteran Kevin Harvick no other driver has shown race-win credentials.

They had the perfect opportunity to score their first win of 2023 as the No:41 Mustang driver Ryan Preece, who is having a nightmarish redemption campaign, started the race on Pole. He went on to win stage 1, his first in NASCAR, and led 135 laps. But he messed up big time in the pit lane and was sent to the back of the grid for speeding. He could never recover from that and finished the race at P14. It was only his third finish inside the Top 20.

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No:14 driver Chase Briscoe led the second-most laps of the day and led the line for 109 laps. The run from the expected new leader of SHR after Harvick’s retirement was pretty impressive, considering he broke his figure at Bristol. He finished the race at P5. Veteran Kevin Harvick, who led 20 laps on the day, finished P20. Their teammate Aric Almirola, who has been just struggling like Preece, scored a P7—his first top 10 of 2023.

Briscoe, after the race, said that SHR was pretty solid the whole day, and one of their cars deserved a win at the 0.536-mile track. He said, “It was a really good day for Stewart-Haas. It’s kind of the Stewart-Haas that there was three or four years ago, right? And it was nice to kind of see that again. So yeah,   really good day for the company. I just wish that one of us was taking home the grandmother clock,”.

“I felt like a Stewart-Haas car probably should have won the race, and we just couldn’t catch the breaks we needed there at the end. But, overall, a great day. That’s something that, as a company, we needed to go and run up front. All four cars were really competitive. I wish one of us would have won the race, but you’ll have that,” Briscoe added.

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Aric Almirola believes that with a few tweaks, SHR can get back to victory lane

Aric Almirola
Aric Almirola

Almirola, who scored his best finish of 2023, pointed out that the team missed out on a few things during the race, and they could have won It if not for those mistakes. He added that SHR had the best cars all day but lacked execution. The Cuban American is pleased with being disappointed with a Top 10 finish when his abysmal start to the year is factored in.

“We just had a few things throughout the race that if we could go back and do different, we’re sitting in Victory Lane. I feel very confident in that. I think we were arguably the best car throughout the day. At different points, we were maybe a third- or fourth-place car, but for most of the day, we were the best race car on the race track and just didn’t put the whole thing together. But it’s nice to be frustrated with a sixth after the start of the season we’ve had,” Almirola said.

The next race of 2023 will be hosted by Talladega next week, and the Daytona result gives Almirola, and the crew hopes for a better result. He said, “We’ve got to work on the intermediate (tracks). We’ve got a speedway next week. Our cars were pretty good there so far this year. So hopefully, we go there and capitalize.”

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